Advice Please On Split

[Insy]

Hello,

Well basically my main hive was swarming, 2 splits later and a new mated queen introduced the swarming is down to 0 queen cells or maybe 1-2 charged on a weekly inspection which is far better than the 15+ i was getting.

Both splits i did i left with queen cells from main hive, Split 2 had a lot of trouble i think the virgin got killed at some point so i had to reintroduce another brood frame of fresh eggs.

Split 1 is in a Swienty Poly Standard Lang setup currently on 1 brood box (10 frames) the bee count is very very low now BUT the new 2013 virgin queen which is mated is no a mission and the 7 out of 10 frames that are drawn out are pretty much side to side/top to bottom jammed with brood in all stages and each week I'm finding more frames drawn out. This hive I'm not worried about as once brood emerges they will be strong.

My main concern is Split 2.

Split 2 was made in may and on inspection last week i finally saw 4-5 frames of eggs (fingers crossed its not drone layer). Anyway the hive is pretty old and battered (does the job and they seem to be okay) but the brood frames were all 2-3+ drawn year old brood frames as the split was small and i needed to help them out so instead of drawing out new frames i gave them something for a kick start.
Now i have 2 perfect new Poly Lang nucs upstairs with fresh frames made ready to go, if i stacked the nuc brood on top of each other this nuc can hold 12 standard brood frames.

My question is it to late in the year to do this.

Transfer 3 Converted National Frames of Brood to Poly Nuc
Transfer Bees + Queen to Poly Nuc
Place 3 Fresh Lang Frames in Poly Nuc
-----Wait for New Frames To Be Drawn-----
Place second 6 frame Poly Nuc Brood on top
----- Wait for them to be drawn out-----
Remove 3 converted frames and replace with Fresh Lang Frames.
-----Overwinter on a nice 12 frame Poly Nuc with fresh frames for next season-----

Can this be achieved this late, I don't care about removing honey this season from any of the splits i just want to get them ready for winter and next season.

Sorry for my backwards way of beekeeping .

 

[enrico]

There is loads of time left to do that. As long as they have nectar coming in to draw the wax, IMHO

 

[Queens59]

Go for it - it is still on early July, months until we have to stop and think 'Can I do..' Enjoy

 

[Insy]

Yes my main flow on farm is blackberries, as there is many many acres of blackberry hedges, should i feed also or just make sure they have a frame of stores to get going along with the flow.

I will be doing this tommorow on inspection and i believe the next week is smashing weather so fingers crossed.

So glad i got 2 queens mated tho i was planning on merging the split 2 back with main as was queenless/virgin for nearly 2 months but soon as i saw me some edges i was so happy.

Thanks Enrico much appreciated.

 

[beeno]

Well done Insy and the bees!

 

[acabee]

Insy
just a slight word of caution (as one currently experiencing drone laying workers) .... don't assume eggs will = worker brood. You might want to wait till you see capped worker brood before ringing the changes?
acabee

 

[Insy]

Yes that's why i said "Split 2 was made in may and on inspection last week i finally saw 4-5 frames of eggs (fingers crossed its not drone layer)"
On today's inspection i will be able to confirm the mating was successful.

 

[Insy]

Decided I'm going to keep the hive on national for this season and on the old frames, it wont do them no harm since they already on them that way i can get them to a decent size for winter.

Just means ill have to start preparing to get the wooden hive as insulated as i can for October time.

My 2 wooden hives both on solid floors and i won't be changing them any time soon as they seem perfectly happy with it, as long as they don't overheat.

Question is what methods of insulation do you use??

Roof with insulation board inside and carpet on top of outside.
Do you place anything underneath?? If so what and how?
What do you do for side walls?

I know I'm talking about this real early but last year i did nothing and i got lucky this year i want to be ready.

Thanks
Ben

 

[enrico]

Decided I'm going to keep the hive on national for this season and on the old frames, it wont do them no harm since they already on them that way i can get them to a decent size for winter.

Just means ill have to start preparing to get the wooden hive as insulated as i can for October time.

My 2 wooden hives both on solid floors and i won't be changing them any time soon as they seem perfectly happy with it, as long as they don't overheat.

Question is what methods of insulation do you use??

Roof with insulation board inside and carpet on top of outside.
Do you place anything underneath?? If so what and how?
What do you do for side walls?

I know I'm talking about this real early but last year i did nothing and i got lucky this year i want to be ready.

Thanks
Ben

I don't use any! Never have! Never lost any bees either, rumour has it that they build up faster in the spring with insulation but I don't have any problems!

 

[Susan1]

I have never used insulation either this was asking two very experienced beekeepers should I use it? One said yes and one said no - can you believe that! So I asked a third who said no so I thought I would go with none as it was two out of three.

 

[itma]

I have never used insulation either this was asking two very experienced beekeepers should I use it? One said yes and one said no - can you believe that! So I asked a third who said no so I thought I would go with none as it was two out of three.

The "more experienced" the beekeeper, generally the less open to new ideas, I have discovered.
And that means 'new to them' rather than actually novel.
Did you ask those who said 'no' whether or not they had tried it?

Back about the 1930's Manley was trying insulation. Covering the hive with something like a haystack was something he found effective, but didn't adopt after one burned down ...
Nowadays we have better insulation available AND mesh floors.

 

[Insy]

well what can i say WOHOOOOOO BLACKBERRIES are here .

Split 2 newly mated queen is all good 5-7 frames of brood in all stages from eggs-capped, couldn't find the queen but considering no queen cells and plenty of fresh eggs she in there somewhere pumping them eggs out . I didnt want to leave them for a week i thsi weather with 2 empty drawn brood frames so i put a super on top with 6 frames of honey (due to be capped) + 6 new frames as i don't want to demoralize them to much by giving them tons of room to fill and draw out.

Split 1 Saw my lovely queen pumping them eggs into the cells on comb , got more stores than last week + pollen. 7 frame side to side top to bottom of brood in all stages 1 frames of stores 2 left to draw out. Placed the 2 frames not drawn in middle of brood + put on another brood box, didn't want to but 2 frames in this weather is very little and only have deep box system on langstroth.

Main Hive well what can i say WOHOOOO first week with not 1 charged queen cell *bee dance*, plenty of capped brood and i see larvae and fresh eggs. Didn't see the queen but then again when she has 1 brood and 4 super to run round i'm not going to lol, fresh super i stuck on last week is drawn out and started to store honey in.



Now for the questions

1. My hive have 4 supers on it all with drawn comb and nearly every frame has honey/pollen/brood in, so let say for example put all brood super frames into 1 super i would have 3 supers of honey/pollen.
Not 1 super frame full of honey is capped out of 3 supers, but they keep drawing new super frames out?? surely they should be capping this??

2. I've also noticed in Split 1 and main hive LOTS of pollen coming in, and i mean LOTS since last week they've filled 2 full brood frames with solid pollen + more in main hive and 1 frame in split 1 of half pollen half stores.
If this carries on wont i get brood blocked?? Can i discourage this??

Thanks
Ben